Did the Chasers go to far in getting past two checkpoints and entering APEC Land?
Or did they do a community service in showing that security was not only not tight but had a big hole in it?

Not sure about either point, Is Mise, but it sure was hilarious!

I can't wait to see what they do with it on the show.

I suspect they were quite surprised when they made it past the checkpoint... it's a bit hard to claim there was malice involved when their security passes were emblazoned with "it's pretty obvious this is a fake pass."

I for one, think it was brilliant.

They clearly did the APEC participants a service. The reaction of the security services in arresting and charging the Chaser people shows that the interest lay in the appearance of security rather than its reality. They will have to buck their ideas up.

A fake motorcade has been used in Iraq with deadly effect - see

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/22/iraq.karbala/index.html

so it's entirely possible (I won't say likely) that Chaser have unwittingly caused a real terrorist attack to be abandoned.

Sylvia.

As a stunt it was almost an obvious one to attempt.
There was however a real Health and Safety factor in it that the ABC
may have to yet wear.

It could so easily have gone all wrong and had someone misinterperated
what some did they could end up getting shot.

It is so easy for things to go wrong in those sort of situations.

The police only noticed there was a problem when Chas got out of his car outside the Intercontinental dresseed as Osam Bin Laden...

Check out the SMH poll http://www.smh.com.au/polls/national/results.html , 25,000 votes and 86% rated the stunt "funny".

We've had a week of putting up with ludicrously over the top security here in Sydney. All it took to breach this $180 million security cordon was a fake motorcade. Even their security passes were marked "this is obviously fake". Every time I saw a po-faced politician or policeman complaining that the Chaser team had gone "too far" I just laughed louder.

Don't be surprised if next week's Chaser show wins the ratings.

I think it was the funniest thing the Chasers have ever done but yes, it could have ended in disaster if someone had been a bit trigger-happy.
Ths SMH poll results reflect what everyone has said all along and that is why the hell did we need APEC in Sydney in the first place.

Yes it was funny but it could have cost a life, will we still laugh if the next terrorist attack uses the idea.
Or if the blunder puts the crew in prison to save face?
Bit over board bit rude hugely funny but.

I really cannot see this stunt having cost a life. The police snipers are not going to start spraying bullets around merely because things below look a bit odd. If they did that they could easily end up killing legitimate APEC delegates.

Now, if Chaser Chas had pulled out a machine gun, things might have been different, but of course Chas was never going to do that.

The idea that someone could have been killed is just spin introduced by the Police Commissioner and others in an attempt to justify their claim that this stunt should not have taken place.

Was it really funny? I know a lot of people who think it was downright stupid and irresponsible

I thought it was magnificent, on so-o-o-o-o many levels!

First of all, it made an absolute mockery of the security that has been such a major feature of life in the city this week. Teams of police on every street corner and every railway station, barriers across key intersections, convoys of riot police in shiny new black 4WDs racing through the city with lights flashing... and one team of comedians drives to the front of George Bush's hotel.

Priceless.

The red faces are everywhere - "a stupid stunt, they could have been shot", "they were arrested, just shows the security works"... lots of spin.

Bit of a problem, though.

Send them to jail, big public backlash.

Don't send them to jail, show up the "APEC Act 2007" as the bureaucratic farce that it is - and make it a little more difficult to throw all those hippies in jail at the weekend.

I reckon they did everyone a favour. The security services will have to a) take their job a little more seriously and b) take themselves a little less seriously - a very positive combination. Until this incident, they were so far up themselves it was embarrassing.

And they gave us a good laugh.

Well, most of us. There's probably a dried-up ex suburban lawyer somewhere watching the last nail being hammered into the coffin his political career.

There's every chance they'll be acquitted anyway. They deny intending to enter the restricted area, claiming that they did not realise that it was one, or in other words, believed that it was not one. Provided they're believed, and a court finds that their belief was reasonable in the circumstances (despite being wrong) then that's a defence in law.

There's also the issue of being waived through by the police. That could constitute permission, which would make their entry into the restricted area lawful.

Sylvia.

Sorry Communicat, but you and your friends would appear to be in a small minority. The Herald poll is approaching 30,000 votes, with only 13% finding the stunt "not funny". Even Alexander Downer had trouble restraining his mirth when he commented on it (presumably because, for once, he wasn't the target).

Now they've been at it again, "driving" down Bligh St in a cardboard "motorcade" (complete with paper plate wheels). The police were smart enough this time to just send them on their way.

well mabye not FUNNY to me(though i do tend to chuckle at the most odd occasions) but VERY clever, and simple at that, so simple its scary. It does prove a point to me that we often just cant see for looking. What are we looking for in a 'terrorist'? a bandanna and a gun? i think not. So this was pretty clever, Osama in a chauffeur driven vehicle, flags and all!

They were wrong, they were stupid, they are an embarrassment to Australia...the Chasers were pretty good though.

To those who are claiming the Chaser Guys could have been shot, I think thats just a face saving attack by the Commissioner.

Anti-terrorism forces would have been trained on what to expect when dealing with possible car bombs. One of the first things you would/should learn about is whats called a "Dead Man switch". This means that if you kill the bomber, the bomb will go off.

Its all a smoke screen to try and distract attention from the fact that the security system failed.

The whole world is laughing. Its on every TV network in the world, and YouTube is in override from people wanting to know who the chasers are. They know about the dreadful fences and the stupid security, and now the Chasers have made people of the world, with a sense of humor, laugh.

Some are slow to see the funny side.

The Chaser team proved that they have more intelligence, than the paranoid, overacting, security circus, currently playing in Sydney.
Humour is so human, corporates are not human, as a matter of fact, corporates are not legally "persons", but corporates in the US and Australia are using their power over governments to change the laws, which would see them as "persons", thus making it more easier for them to have more influence on who is elected, and enable them to grab land and resources from real "persons".

Think you will find a lot of people did not think it was anything other than stupid - I know of no less than eleven articulate people who wrote letters to the press condemning the stunt and not one was published...which would appear to suggest a certain bias on the part of the media for their colleagues rather than a reflection of public opinion.

the masters of the universe have got an advanced case of the 'ozymandias'syndrome, shown up by chasers in their current high school revue:"what we did at apec." looking forward to next acts, hoping for water cannon and tasers, disappointed the mounted police are driving buses. where are the "socialist workers" support act, anyway?

Do you know what amazes me?

All the people screaming about how the Chaser guys have "embarrassed Australia" or acted irresponsibly seem to have missed one vital point.

The security system failed, this was a hole in the security system that you could literally drive a bomb through. Instead of venting at the Chaser guys, shouldn't we be asking questions of the Police Commissioner? Or the Minister For Security

Quote
Now, if Chaser Chas had pulled out a machine gun, things might have been
different, but of course Chas was never going to do that.
Unquote

If someone got the wrong idea the Chasers cameraman would not have
been the first cameraman to have his camera mistaken for a weapon.
There are a few dead cameramen because of that and media organisations
should be more aware of that than any of us.

Well I must admit that there could have been some danger of someone being shot.

If the police snipers are as incompetent as the rest of the bunch seem to be then someone could have been hurt.
Probably not Chaser but the cop standing near him.

Do the police have women snipers?

Bazz, how many times have camera men been shot in situations where camera men are expected?

Please provide citations.

Sylvia.

Sylvia,
I don't collect and store information like that.
My son worked in the ABC in that very area and it was a concern for them
in regard to places like Iraq. No ABC cameraman has been killed but
certainly others have.
If you really want to find that information try a google search on media
casualities, there has been enough of them.

Bazz, I wasn't aware that Sydney was a "place like Iraq".

If you're seriously suggesting there was a danger of unarmed comedians being shot by police, then I think it's the police, not the Chaser crew, that have gone "too far".

Bazz,

The issue is whether cameramen have been killed as a result of their cameras being mistaken for weapons in situations where the presence of cameramen is to be expected (such as APEC).

You have stated that there is a risk. The onus is on you to provide at least something in the way of evidence. It is not reasonable for you simply to assert it, and then expect others to look for a way of justifying it for you.

Sylvia.

The whole APEC event in Sydney reminds me so strongly of the final car chase scene of "The Blues Brothers" that it defies description.

Good on you Chasers....saving us from being too dumbed down and becoming an Orwellian society, which is what Howard would love.

Then again, we are already probably halfway there.....

The version I heard was that the Chaser team were alarmed that they got so close and had turned around are were leaving. When Chas got out of the car and the stunt became obvious, it wasn't outside the Continental but heading away from it.

The real joke in this is the idea that we invite leaders to this country for a peaceful meeting but then have to spend so much money protecting them from the citizens.

It didn't look like Australia in Sydney today- more like Chile or some other police state.

Check this out:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/apec/jailed-for-jaywalking/2007/09/08/1188783554892.html

then worry a little.

Is Mise,

It is rather disturbing, but as always there are going to be two sides to the story. There is relevant footage on NineMSN, but it shows first the man quietly talking with police officers, and then skips to a rather violent looking arrest. What we don't see is exactly what matters - what happened between the quiet discussion and the violent arrest.

I am bothered by the length of time the man was held, and the apparent claim that he was not allowed to see a lawyer. Contrary to what the article says, the APEC laws do not allow the police to hold a person without bail until the end of APEC, they merely create a presumption against bail for certain offences (including assault). The decision about bail is made by a magistrate, not by the police. To my mind, the man should have been brought before a magistrate much sooner than he was.

This utterly disgusts me.

At no point was this man considered by Police to be a demonstrator. He was not with any mob. Frankly, he is not of 'Middle-Eastern' appearance. He WAS with a young boy and another man.

His 'crime' appears to be jaywalking!!

I cannot wait for that odious slimeball and his 600 odd (very odd) entourage to get to hell out of our Country!

Police arrested the wrong threat to our society.

Ginx,

If its Bush you are referring to, he left last night.

Dammit! JP, He KNEW I would post the above and decided to cut and run......

Ginx,

Heh, its obviously an international plot by the underpants gnomes!

Hmm, looks like we don't need the Chaser team to make the NSW police look incompetent, they're doing very nicely without any assistance..

It turns out that the bespectacled accountant who was skull-dragged off the road, strip-searched and tossed in a cell with an ice addict, just happened to be best mates with Miranda Devine. Divine Miranda is incandescent with rage, as you may read here http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/pumpedup-cops-are-stepping-over-the-thin-blue-line/2007/09/08/1188783556546.html After all, he's not some dreadlocked feral or be-turbaned Moslem who would deserve such treatment is he?

Farewell APEC, you've been a very informative guest, but don't come back.

Not living in Syndney and like nearly 100% of Australians not affected by APEC.

This APEC was an embarrasment to Australians as Howard and Costello showed how pathetic they are squabbling over how long Rudd was in a meeting with Bush (and what on earth could Bush be capable of saying that is worth listening to?) Parts of Sydney under what is effectively martial law , a further embarrasment to Australians as it is supposed to be a democracy where people are free and not some bannana republic where public land is off limits to the public and private land off limits to the owners. Australians do not benifit from APEC , the question is who does benifit and will they pay for it? Clearly not.

If we have visitors to this country which require the level of security we have witnessed then is it not a security risk to us? Who has the moral authority to put Australian lives at risk for something as so trivial? and ; Shouldnt they pay us for allowing them to come here? Who is to be blamed for inviting them here when funding is not reaching hospitals and schools and remote communities and even life saving medicines are withheld from the PBS on political and financial grounds.

Obviously the Chasers serve as a distraction from the mess that has been created. The laws should be to protect innocent citizens, what risk is the Chasers team to the Australian public? Obviously nil. Meanwhile hardened criminals walk free while court time and police time is wasted on such ridiculous antics.As Howard faces almost certain defeat at the next election he appears to be indulging as a big fish in a little pond , last party as it were before history writers unleash their cruelty in his twilight years.

As far as Chasers risking being shot by snipers , that is utterly stupid if the snipers are competent. If they are well trained then when are they going to shoot to disarm an unarmed person? The speculation is saying the police have no confidence in their own people. As sylvia said it would mean all APEC delegates would be at risk of being shot by police.

If the Chasers were at risk at being shot it is particularly bad publicity for anybody going to a major public event in Sydney. Authorities should have said "how silly" and left it at that , most of us would have had a laugh (except those with no sense of humour) and it would have been forgotten. As it is the whole APEC meeting has been a mess and so close to an election it would be better if APEC was forgotten and we move on....Unless... NSW wishes it to remain a festering embarrasment to Howards Government.

What does APEC really stand for?
Australians Puttingupwith Exceptional Crap?

I think their view was spot on. the surcurity was being power crazy and out of control in many of the publics view. one of the examples was the man bashed and aressted in front of his son whilst crossing a street, come on how stupid is that! crossing a road? a horrible crime?

It is good to see the Yemma labor government,following the tradition.
Australia is a penal colony,and the best way to keep the natives at bay is behind high fences.
Well Done Yemma, keep up the good work,keep the prisoners in line.
As for the Chasers team they only pointed out to the rest of the world, what a laughing stock our prison/police are.." Not much upstairs."

I think the heavily taxed-payers of this state should get at least, a laugh out of all of this.
Embarrasment? Far Beyond.